Meds

With the decline in network television viewership, sponsorship dollars become more important.

Showtime, the premium cable network, recently canceled a Tim Robbins pilot (via Schwitzer), a show that took a "scathing look at the pharmaceutical drug industry, focusing on a dysfunctional family behind a major drug concern."

It was considered a shoo-in to be on the schedule, so the move came as a surprise.

The recession is forcing people to look for ways to cut their health care costs.

One unfortunate method is bypassing physician visits and prescription medications in favor less expensive vitamins and supplements.

According to the NY Times, here's a typical example: "In flusher times, Ms. Parham said, she spent $50 a month on prescriptions for her asthma, allergies and other chronic problems. Now, she pays $6 a ...

Beginning this year, inhaled beta-agonist asthma medications had to switch to a more environmentally friendly form.

MedPage Today has a special report on the issue, one where most primary care doctors were not well educated on.

Apparently, the new inhalers, which use hydrofluoroalkane (HFA) as a propellant, have been attracting a litany of patient complaints, including that the medicine tastes funny, the propellant isn't as strong, it's less ...

You may have heard the story of anesthesiologist Scott Reuben, who allegedly fabricated the results of 21 medical studies.

Orac, over at his blog Respectful Insolence, provides some perspective of the issue, saying, "Dr. Reuben's fraud appears to eclipse even that of Andrew Wakefield [the disgraced researcher who wrongly linked autism to the MMR vaccine]."

Apparently, the pressure for academic physicians to generate results is intense, often with ...

In the staid world of drug research, this is about as scandalous as it gets.

The antipsychotic drug quetiapine, or Seroquel, is coming under fire. As MedPage Today reports, damning e-mails from the past are resurfacing, implicating the drug maker for "burying" studies linking the drug to weight gain and diabetes.

But here's where it gets juicy.

AstraZeneca's former US medical director has admitted prior sexual ...

The following op-ed was published on February 26, 2009 in the USA Today.
Have you ever noticed the pens, coffee mugs and prescription pads at your doctor's office? Chances are, they were prominently adorned with the brand name of the prescription drug its company is touting.
The pharmaceutical industry has been giving these types of small gifts to doctors for years, in hopes of raising physician awareness of ...